1. The Dead Church The Church at Sardis

2. "The congregation in Sardis was the very reverse of the church in Smyrna. Smyrna was put to death and yet lived, Sardis appeared to be alive and yet was dead.”

3. Sardis – once a very rich city. King Croesus, rich as Croesus "By the middle of the sixth century B.C., the city attained such a high level of respect that when its downfall came at the hands of a little known enemy, the Greek cities received the news of it with disbelief. Croesus, king of Lydia, initiated an attack against Cyrus, king of Persia, but was soundly defeated. Returning to Sardis to recoup and rebuild his army for another attack, he was pursued quickly by Cyrus who laid siege against Sardis. "So secure did the Sardians feel they had left the city that one means of access was completely unguarded, permitting the climbers to ascend unobserved.

4. It is said that even a child could have defended the city from this kind of an attack by watching that one area where the wall could have been scaled, but not so much as one observer had been appointed to watch that side because it was believed to be inaccessible, and so the city was conquered. History repeated itself over three and a half centuries later when Antiochus the Great conquered Sardis by utilizing the services of a sure- footed mountain climber. This happened in 195 B.C. and they hadn't learned the lesson.”

5. “The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.” There is one Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is described as a seven-fold Spirit. This can be a reference to Isaiah chapter 11. In Isaiah chapter 11 there is a seven-fold description of the Holy Spirit which could be in view here. Verse 2 we meet the Spirit of the Lord and the Spirit of the Lord is described as the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge and fear, adding those six to the title Spirit of the Lord gives you the seven-fold Spirit, that would be the Holy Spirit described in the fullness of His operation, rather than the seven Spirits, it is the seven- fold Spirit. In Zechariah 4 the emphasis is on the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

6. A dead church would not have the benefit of the living power of the Holy Spirit, nor would it have leaders who manifested the life and power of God. That was the problem. He introduces Himself as the one who sovereignly works in His church through His Spirit and spirit-filled leaders, both of which were absent in the case of the church at Sardis. The life, the power of the Holy Spirit was not there, neither was the spirit-filled leadership, and they desperately needed both. Devoid of the Spirit and devoid of Spirit-filled godly leaders, the church was dead.

7. I. Symptoms of their mortal illness 1. Verse 2 spiritual sloth. “When the praises of God surround you, but they do not come from your heart. When the word of God is heard by you, but does not come into you and transform you.” -To have the word of God among us and only treat it as the word of man. -It does not penetrate, -No spiritual hunger

8. 2. Spiritual forgetfulness. He has to say remember. Only a few whose garments had not been soiled. -The danger in Sardis was not so much physical death, but exclusion -In order to be included, there had to be compromise.

9. Garments have reference to character. Garments are what clothe a person. In pagan worship when people went to worship the gods that they ascribed to, they had to put on clean clothes. Historians tell us that it was not uncommon if someone came in to worship a false deity, of course to them it was a true god, but they came in to worship their god, if they had dirty clothes, they wouldn't let them in. There was a certain kind of proper garment that you had to have even to worship a pagan god. And He is saying to these people, you still can come into the presence of the true God because your garments have not been defiled...smeared and polluted. In other words, your character is uncompromised.

10. II. Jesus recommends radical spiritual surgery Imperatives 1.Wake up, rouse yourself! – A call to reverse the current attitude, and the current attitude must be sleep. – Revival has a certain discontentment with the status quo either personally or corporately. – The spirit of stupor. 2. Restore what remains. Whatever spiritual values are left, whatever spiritual graces are left, strengthen that place. What is God doing? Where is He at work?

11. 3. Remember what you received in the Gospel. Go back to what you know is the truth. It's just what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:14, “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” 4. Keep it and repent. Obey. Go back, put the truth of the gospel in place and become obedient to it. Don't get distracted by the world.

12. Repent—turn away from any sin. Sin is almost always a compromised way of getting something I believe I need. To repent is truly distinguish for myself where I have been deceived and to put an end to the deception by receiving, applying, and obeying the truth. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis…they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.